Amtrak Customer Survey

[Bill]

Just got a letter from Amtrak today wanting my opinion of a small section of my recent trip with them,the Cardinal from Chicago to Cincinnati on 2/05/08. On the back is a questionaire with 21 questions,ranging from the cleanliness,smell of restrooms,friendlieness of staff...those type of questions. This is a first for me and strange since it was only 300 miles of a 5000 mile trip,wonder if the Cardinal is in trouble again or is digging itself a bigger ditch.I was happy with my entire trip with Amtrak,nice crew,friendly etc,some mighty rough track and same menu on the different trains but still had a smile on my face when I returned 12 days later.

I plan on putting a hand written letter in with this survey with my dissattifaction that I was not contacted by Amtrak that the Coast Starlite had been canceled.I left Cincinnati OH on 1/26 at 1:00 am and had just gotten my new tickets at the station one hour before leaving on my new reoute.If it were not for this web site I would not have known the Starlite had been cancelled,Several calls were placed to Amtrak on 1/24 but they still insited they were bussing around the slide.....I finally got a very nice operator,explainted what I had read,put on hold and she came back and said my info was correct. Thanks to this site I was NOT stuck in Portland OR with no train to ride.

 

[AlanB]

Just got a letter from Amtrak today wanting my opinion of a small section of my recent trip with them,the Cardinal from Chicago to Cincinnati on 2/05/08. On the back is a questionaire with 21 questions,ranging from the cleanliness,smell of restrooms,friendlieness of staff...those type of questions. This is a first for me and strange since it was only 300 miles of a 5000 mile trip,wonder if the Cardinal is in trouble again or is digging itself a bigger ditch.I was happy with my entire trip with Amtrak,nice crew,friendly etc,some mighty rough track and same menu on the different trains but still had a smile on my face when I returned 12 days later.I plan on putting a hand written letter in with this survey with my dissattifaction that I was not contacted by Amtrak that the Coast Starlite had been canceled.I left Cincinnati OH on 1/26 at 1:00 am and had just gotten my new tickets at the station one hour before leaving on my new reoute.If it were not for this web site I would not have known the Starlite had been cancelled,Several calls were placed to Amtrak on 1/24 but they still insited they were bussing around the slide.....I finally got a very nice operator,explainted what I had read,put on hold and she came back and said my info was correct. Thanks to this site I was NOT stuck in Portland OR with no train to ride.

It's very routine for Amtrak to mail out those surveys for a specific part of your trip. They are just standard things and aren't done because a route may or may not be in trouble. In fact, the Cardinal is the one train that Amtrak can't stop running, at least as long as Amtrak remains in business. Senator Byrd managed to get some legislation passed many years ago that requires Amtrak to keep running that route for as long as it exists.

 

[Bill]

I knew that Byrd always pushed for this train but didn't realize it will be here forever Good new to me. This was just my first survey in over ten years of actively riding Amtrak. I have called Amtrak twice in that time,once to lodge a sota complaint,not their fault, and once to say how great my car attendent was....I think both fell on deaf ears,but I coulda been wrong.Writting is probaly the most effective way to get a point across.

 

[PRR 60]

...In fact, the Cardinal is the one train that Amtrak can't stop running, at least as long as Amtrak remains in business. Senator Byrd managed to get some legislation passed many years ago that requires Amtrak to keep running that route for as long as it exists.

I do not believe that provision of the Amtrak law is still in force. The Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997 repealed and re-wrote much of the original Amtrak Act. I cannot find anything in current US Code or the FY2008 appropriations legislation that singles out the Cardinal or service to West Virginia as having any special status.

And, just to be a trouble-maker (who, me?), if such a provision were in place, would that not be "micro-managing"?

 

[AlanB]

And, just to be a trouble-maker (who, me?), if such a provision were in place, would that not be "micro-managing"?

Well Congress does like to micro-manage Amtrak.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Couldn't they pull sleeper and meal service off it though?

 

[AlanB]

Couldn't they pull sleeper and meal service off it though?

I strongly suspect that Amtrak could have done that, at least the sleeper and a major downgrade of food service, but that would incure the ire of one of its bigger supporters in Congress. They couldn't have totally pulled food service though.